Welcome to Seoul Startups on Substack. The first edition will go out on February 22 at midnight (GMT+0). That means you’ll either receive it on Sunday evening or on Monday morning.
A sneak peak at what’s in store:
Coupang, the darling of Korean e-commerce, filed to go public in the U.S. on Friday. It’s opting for a cheaper NYSE listing over the tech-heavy NASDAQ. Shares for the $50 billion company have yet to be priced, but the offering could be available as early as March. The company reported $11 billion in revenue in 2020, a 90% increase from the previous year. Like Amazon’s Prime services, Coupang’s got more than delivery guys jetting across the city. It’s also entering the over-the-top (OTT) media market with Coupang Play. That might mean an exclusive BTS reel while waiting for your Korean fried chicken.
Hyundai, where’s my car? Looks like a game of broken telephone got someone into a whole lot of trouble. Hyundai-Kia retracted statements made last month that they were in discussions to develop an ‘Apple Car’. Apparently, Apple wasn’t so happy with Hyundai for bragging about its secret development projects. Conversely, Hyundai got a little cheesed when they found out that Apple was in talks with other car manufacturers. We’re not sure who pulled the plug, but it got the hype done. An analyst at Seoul-based Meritz Securities Co. commented, “Hyundai’s ultimate goal isn’t to become an Apple car supplier. It wants to be the next Tesla.”
Interested?
In the meantime, tell your friends!